The Saffolalife Study 2012 revealed that 75 percent males in the age group of 30-34, stood at Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk as compared to 57 percent females, highlighting how the younger male working force were falling prey to heart diseases.

The Saffola-life Heart Age finder involved knowing the lipid profile of a respondent and mapping the cholesterol and HDL levels among the participants over the past two years.

It underlines worries by medical experts on how cardiovascular diseases or CVDs are affecting millions of Indians every year. Experts say Indians need to take care of their heart at a time when the number of cardiovascular deaths are projected to rise to 25, 84,000 by 2020, up from 11, 75, 000 in the year 1990. Majority of them could be the productive working age group (30-44), they add.

The Heart's Age of participants were calculated, based on their answers on a specially created questionnaire which helped in evaluating their status taking into account food habits, lifestyle and physical activity among various other factors.

Reasons behind Indians' heart age revealed

About 78 percent of Indians have very low HDL levels and a whopping 74 percent consume less than two servings of healthy whole grains per day, revealed Saffolalife Heart Study 2012 , one of India's largest study* on factors affecting heart health.

At least 54 percent of Indians were also found guilty of consuming less than one serving of vegetables and salad, a recommended diet by doctors to avoid heart diseases. The Saffolalife Heart Study 2012 aimed at identifying common risk factors for soaring cases of heart disease in India, was done over two years across 12 cities and covered more than 1.12 lakh people across 30-100 age group.

Key highlights of the study

BMI - Delhi emerged as the overweight - obese capital with 80% of respondents erring on this side of the BMI scale. Chennai followed with 76% and Bangalore reported 75% participants having higher BMI levels.

TOTAL CHOLESTEROL - Delhi and Bangalore had 29% of respondents having high total cholesterol levels. Chennai was second with 25% respondents having high levels of total cholesterol.

HDL LEVELS-Chennai and Bangalore had 87% of participants having dangerously low levels of the 'good' HDL cholesterol.

DIABETES-Chennai emerged as the diabetes capital with 23% of Chennaites suffering from the disease. Bangalore closely follows at 21% and and Delhi claimed the third place with 17% respondents having diabetes.

FRIED FOOD CONSUMPTION- Yet again, Delhi emerged as the fried food capital with 14% of participants admitting to enjoy fried foods. Bangalore and Chennai recorded a modest percentage at 8% and 7% respectively.

FRUIT CONSUMPTION- 32% of respondents from Chennai consumed no fruits in the course of a week. Delhi and Bangalore claimed to have 29% of participants consuming no fruits in a week.

WHOLE GRAIN CONSUMPTION- 79% of Chennai participants were found to be deficient in fibre intake due to less than 2 servings of whole grain in a week. Bangalore followed closely with 72% of the participants and Delhi pitched in third with a statistic of 69%

About SaffolalifeStudy: Saffolalife™ is a not for profit initiative started by Marico around 14 years ago. The study is supported by Indian Public Health Association. The objective is to spread awareness of the risk of heart ailments in India, and hence bring down the deaths caused due to Cardiovascular diseases. Over the last 3 years, free cholesterol checks were provided to many consumers who took the test. A consumer can also calculate his heart's age should he change his habits, BP level etc. At present, Saffolalife™ has within its fold various initiatives which include the Healing Hearts Program, World Heart Day, Dial a Dietician, Ask an Expert, and the Saffolalife™ Study. In the past it has carried out over 88,000 free cholesterol tests across the country. IPHA has provided technical support the study with the scientific alignments to the methodologies and analysis procedures.

* Based on a survey conducted by SaffolaLife in 2012. Study based on an analysis of responses received on SaffolaLife Heart Age Finder.